Deceased organ donation i.e., organ donation from a brain dead person offers patients with organ failure a renewed lease of life. Trained personnel who counsel and motivate families of brain dead patients about organ donation play an integral part in effecting this lifesaving act. They are also a vital link in the living organ donation and transplantation program. The Government of India in the Transplantation of Human Organs (Amendment) Act, 2011 has made transplant coordinator nomination mandatory before a hospital is registered as a transplant centre. This means that there is a huge requirement for this new cadre of health care professionals - Transplant coordinators.

To address the training needs of this cadre of health care professionals, MOHAN Foundation established the “Transplant Coordinators’ Training Program” in 2009. This program is the only one of its kind in India and South Asia and is supported by the Tata Trusts, Mumbai.

The one year e-learning program involves training in counseling families of “brain dead” patients to donate organs and coordinating the entire process of organ donation, retrieval and transplantation. The participants will be trained in all aspects of counselling with intense one-on-one role play by very experienced transplant coordinators. It also imparts knowledge in the theoretical concepts of organ donation and transplantation including medical, legal, ethical, socio-cultural and religious aspects. The program offers contact classes for counselling, soft skills and simulations. In addition, workshops, surveys and project are part of the curriculum.

The training aims at empowering participants to create a roadmap for initiating an organ donation program in his or her hospital/city/region and work as the key resource person to spearhead donation and transplant-related activities, at the end of the program.